Recipes: Luo Han Guo Chinese Herbal Tea (罗汉果凉茶)

Luo Han Guo has a very chim scientific name: Siraitia grosvenorii. This is a herbal tea that my hubby loves and will always buy when we passed by the herbal store so I decide to learn to cook it. Am pleasantly surprised that it's so easy to cook this herbal tea! This is one of the standard chinese herbal tea for cooling the body and to heal cough/sorethroat.

Luo Han Guo is cheap and can be found in supermarkets or chinese medicine hall.3 pieces cost around S$1.20 to S$1.50. I prefer to buy mine in chinese medicine hall where you get to choose. NTUC usually only sell pre-packed ones.

How to Choose Luo Han Guo (罗汉果):

• Colour: should not be too dark
• Shake: give the fruit a light shake when choosing. if you can hear/feel the seed within moving, the seed is dried (not fresh), and will not give much taste/benefits

What you need:

• Luo Han Guo (罗汉果). 
• Pot (Try to use clay/ceramic if possible. It is better for cooking herbal tea/soup as there may be chemical reaction with metal/stainless steel pot)
• Water
• Chrysanthemum (optional)
• Wolf-berries (optional)

For me, I prefer to add chrysanthemum & wolf berries into my herbal tea. These are optional. Traditional luo han guo tea consists of luo han guo and water only. Luo Han Guo has natural sweetness so sugar is usually not required. but if you do have a sweet tooth, you may put in a few pieces of rock sugar.

Wash the Luo Han Guo fruits, Chrysanthem and wolfberries. I usually use a medium-sized pot, and I found that the taste for 1 Luo Han Guo is quite bland, so I usually use 2, and if necessary, add another 1. It's entirely based on personal taste. My family loves the thick herbal taste of Luo Han Guo so my tea is usually quite thick in flavor.

Fill the pot with about 3/4 full of water, crushed the luo han guo and put them into the pot. close the lid and wait for the mixture to boil

Let the mixture boil a while. and open the lid to taste. This is the time when you decide if you need to add another fruit, or sugar

For me, I'll usually add Chrysanthem and wolfberries at this stage

done!

Benefits

• Luo Han Guo is good for cough and sorethroat
• It is considered a "cooling" fruit, so this is a good cooling herbal tea when you're feeling heaty, or have eaten too much unhealthy fried junk or have too too many late nights
• chrysanthemum is also known to be cooling, rich in Vitamin B & C, and good for detoxification of the liver
• wolfberries are good for eyesight and is is one of the most antioxidant-rich fruits around.